Illinois Valley Times

Illinois State Rep. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) recently made a statement about Public Act 11-1123, which restricts local control over the siting of renewable energy projects.

"I stand with the county leaders across the 45th District that want to fight back against this terrible law. I voted against it when it was passed during the January Lame Duck and will continue to voice my disapproval of this loss of local control," Chesney said in a Feb. 23 Facebook post. 

In his Facebook post, Chesney shared a link to a longer statement from his website regarding the effects of PL 11-1123: “I stand with the counties that want to fight this new law. The new regulations would allow a wind tower to be built as close as 200 feet from a property line, which is outrageous. Even for the larger blades, we’re talking an approximate setback distance of a football field. If it’s OK for these gigantic wind towers to be built this close to property lines, perhaps the Democrats who approved this law would like to have one right next to their own houses. This is yet another bad law passed by Democrats with zero Republican support. Without even a shred of concern for those living in rural parts of the state, they stripped counties of local control and pushed their agenda at the expense of people’s property values and quality of life. These are massive structures, and rural counties have done a good job of balancing the need for clean energy with quality of life issues for the citizens they serve. But Chicago and suburban Democrats are again deciding they know what is best for those who live outside of Cook and the Collar Counties. They have stripped away local control, and now there is little that can be done to stop these enormous structures from being built, and little opportunity for proper oversight.”

House Bill 4412 specifies that siting of a commercial wind energy facility or solar energy facility must include at least one public hearing within 45 days of the filing of an application for those permits. It requires that counties with conflicting zoning ordinances change their zoning ordinances to comply with House Bill 4412, and sets setback requirements, restrictions on blade tip height, sound limitations and other regulations for commercial wind energy facilities and commercial solar energy facilities. The bill limits a county's ability to regulate commercial wind energy facilities and commercial solar energy facilities.

Iroquois County is one of those counties expressing concern over the act, and had in fact passed a resolution opposing the act, according to the Iroquois County Times. In a piece published Feb. 15, the publication quoted Iroquois County Board Chairman John Shure from the county board meeting the previous day: “The act will take away the rights of the county to determine zoning in the rural areas,” he said, noting that there is also a mile and a half setback required from any town, city or village, which he said will prohibit future growth.